Good nutrition can do more than help with weight loss — it can keep people out of hospital.

Hannah Jones, a registered dietitian with Island Nutrition, said proper nutrition was essential to good health.

She explained: “The biggest health problems in Bermuda are obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

“All of these conditions are preventable and reversible. One of our aims is to keep people off medication.”

Ms Jones spoke to the Hamilton Rotary Club earlier this week about the value of dietitians and medical nutrition.

She said that the majority of the island’s dietary problems were the same as in other developed countries — with high rates of obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure and cholesterol the result.

Ms Jones added: “They are all part of the same pot, and they are all related in terms of the diet of the patient.

“It’s not well controlled over here, and we really need to get to grips with it because it is crippling our healthcare system.”

And she said that — while it is not well recognised in developed countries — malnutrition could also be a serious factor on the island.

Ms Jones added: “About 40 per cent of people are malnourished on admission to hospital in developed countries such as the US, UK and Canada.

“We don’t have those statistics locally, but malnutrition is not just a third-world problem.

“There are a lot of people who are classically malnourished, underweight clients, but there are also those who had an historically poor diet, who are obese and don’t have the nutrient reserves so when they get sick they decline very quickly.”

Mrs Jones said that many Bermudians are interested in nutrition and their diet.

But she warned that there was a great deal of misinformation — especially on the internet.

Ms Jones said: “We spend a lot of time telling clients that what they read online was not true.

“Blueberries are not going to stop you getting cancer. It’s a worry because a lot of people turn to the internet for advice.

“There are also a lot of unqualified or underqualified people giving out nutritional information.

“There are also a whole pile of diets out there, and a lot of people are out there looking for a quick fix.

Ms Jones added: “Sometimes even physicians have diet plans that are quick fixes, and we will see clients who are finishing those diets and need help keeping that weight off, because that’s the problem with a quick fix.”